Baptiştii şi (i)moralitatea

While news media have repeatedly focused on abuse among Catholics, Protestant insiders have also long known that many of their own clergy -- especially youth workers and pastors who do counseling -- were breaking the laws of God and man.

"The incidence of sexual abuse by clergy has reached 'horrific proportions,' " according to a 2000 report to the Baptist General Convention of Texas. It noted that studies conducted in the 1980s found that about 12 percent of ministers had "engaged in sexual intercourse with members" and nearly 40 percent had "acknowledged sexually inappropriate behavior."

Sadly, this report added: "Recent surveys by religious journals and research institutes support these figures. The disturbing aspect of all research is that the rate of incidence for clergy exceeds the client-professional rate for both physicians and psychologists."

WINCHESTER - On Sept. 26, The American Baptist Churches of Massachusetts notified lay leaders of the First Baptist Church of Winchester that their pastor, the Rev. Lawrence French, had been found guilty by a church panel of sexually molesting three boys between 1960 and 1982.

SANFORD, Fla. -- A Florida evangelist and former religious broadcaster accused of plotting to murder a rival sat solemnly yesterday as jurors heard a profanity-laced tape in which he allegedly discussed the proposed killing.

"It's gotta get done and he's gotta get done," George Crossley says in the recording.

Crossley, 56, is a Baptist minister who for years used conservative talk shows on Orlando-area television and radio stations to campaign against gay rights and sex education. He was also instrumental in getting a federal grand jury to investigate charges that a Florida sheriff illegally targeted members of minority groups for drug enforcement.

He was arrested in June 1996 after hiring a federal agent posing as a hit man to murder George Waldo, a fellow minister who had harassed him for years. Waldo had also accused Crossley of having an affair with his wife.

Members of Brentwood Baptist church in southwest Houston gathered Monday night for an unprecedented meeting. Many thought they were voting to terminate Pastor Joe Ratliff, but instead the vote was on a lesser punishment -- suspension with pay.

Ratliff is accused of soliciting sex from a man at the church office. The man sued, but the suit was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.

Many in the congregation say they're glad to have Ratliff stay at the church. Others say they're not sure they'll stay.

"We're gonna proceed with our pastor and God's vision for the church and campus and we're relieved to put this past us," said church member Jacqueline Preston.

"He's a good man, takes care of the kids and we're glad he's back," said another church member, Norwetta Prevost.

Most women recognize Condit for what he is -- a womanizer who used women for his own twisted power kicks and sexual fulfillment. Nobody honestly believes Condit actually cared about any of the women he bedded. He didn't truly care or respect the intern, the stewardess, or the teenage daughter of a Pentecostal minister. His wife? I don't know. If Condit truly cared about his wife, he had an odd way of showing it.

"To understand Clinton the president, you have to meet Bill the Baptist, a believer whose faith leaves plenty of license," said a subheading to the article, written by religion correspondent Kenneth Woodward.

"Bill Clinton - both the public and the private man - cannot be fully understood without grasping the nuances of his Baptist upbringing," wrote Woodward, noting that the president's positions on abortion and school vouchers reflect the views of former Baptist leaders who fought the Roman Catholic Church over those issues.

One of the five men arrested early Saturday in the attempt to bug the Democratic National Committee headquarters is the salaried security coordinator for President Nixon’s reelection committee.

The suspect, former CIA employee James W. McCord Jr., 53, also holds a separate contract to provide security services to the Republican National Committee, GOP national chairman Bob Dole said yesterday.

McCord is an active Baptist and colonel in the Air Force Reserve, according to neighbors and friends.

In Homestead, Pa., William Michael Altman, senior pastor at nondenominational Grace Christian Ministries, visits the hospital bedside of Marcia Bezak. Mrs. Bezak, a childhood molestation survivor with a 15-year history of depression and eating disorders, has just attempted suicide for at least the third time. According to Mrs. Bezak's testimony in a civil suit she filed in 2000, Mr. Altman says he will counsel her and help her recover. During counseling Mr. Altman tells her that her husband does not understand or appreciate her; he also allegedly convinces her that it is God's will that she regularly perform oral sex on him. When confronted, Mr. Altman confesses the relationship to church leaders, but later claims it was a consensual affair.

In Fergus Falls, Minn., Nazarene pastor Mervin Kelley initiates sex with a female parishioner who came to him suffering from clinical depression related to childhood incest. While providing spiritual aid and comfort, Mr. Kelley tells the woman, who is also the church pianist, about his past experience of having sex with animals. He also tells her he wants to engage in homosexual acts, and invites her to watch. Before preaching on Sundays, he sometimes leaves a "gift" for her on the church piano: a tissue containing his semen. When confronted, Mr. Kelley claims the relationship was a consensual affair.

In Detroit, Haman Cross Jr., pastor of Rosedale Park Baptist Church and a nationally known speaker on sexual purity, begins counseling parishioner Donna Scott, first for marital sexual troubles, then for problems related to childhood sexual abuse. According to Mrs. Scott's testimony, Mr. Cross gives her pornography, convinces her that "phone sex" with him will improve her marital sex life, and convinces her that sexual contact with him will help heal her incest wounds. In deposition testimony, Mr. Cross denies saying that the sexual contact was therapy and instead claims the relationship was a consensual affair.

A Battle Creek minister, who told police he was evil, stabbed his wife, a female neighbor and his dog early Tuesday before quietly surrendering to police.

Neither of the women was seriously injured, but the dog died.

Battle Creek police identified the minister as the Rev. Charles R. Sandum, 67. He is the retired pastor of Lakeview Baptist Church and, in August, completed two years as interim pastor at First Baptist Church in Battle Creek.

The Preacher Combs Trial, where a Baptist preacher and his wife were sentenced to 179 years for the rape and torture of Elsa Garcia.

An investigation followed and the Combses were charged in November 1998 with crimes including kidnapping, rape and abuse. During the trial in February and March 2000, the young woman testified how Joe Combs forced her to have oral sex almost every day and that when Evangeline found out about it, she beat her for it. The couple used bats and garden hoses to beat the girl, forced her to perform all the household chores and wouldn’t allow her to participate in the home schooling of the other children until her chores were completed. She suffered cuts from tin can lids, chunks of skin were pinched off with needle nose pliers, her skin was burned with a craft-type wood burner and a cut caused by a thrown shoe was sewn up without any anesthesia. Two days of testimony from the girl kept a full courtroom spellbound during the longest trial in Sullivan County history.

LARGO, Fla. - A respected Baptist preacher was a con man who looked people in the eye and smoothly swindled millions in church funds to finance a lavish lifestyle, prosecutors said Monday.

The Rev. Henry Lyons "led two totally different lives. He led one public life ... but there was a second side, a hidden side to Henry J. Lyons, a side that caused him to be brought here to this seat," Assistant State Attorney Robert Lewis said in opening statements at Lyons' racketeering and grand theft trial.

Attorneys for Lyons, the president of the National Baptist Convention USA, said the minister is a humble man who is being held accountable for failing to raise enough money for his church group.

In a deal likely to keep him out of jail, the Rev. Herbert Lusk pleaded guilty Thursday to five felony counts arising from his misuse of public funds while operating a state-subsidized child-care program in Seaside.

A 39-year-old Ceresco woman denied Wednesday she was having an affair with a Battle Creek minister she accused of raping her.

During her second day on the witness stand in the trial of the Rev. Richard Collins, the woman said she didn't immediately report the Jan. 28 alleged assault because she knew it would affect her family and the church.

"It was going to hurt everybody to know he was not the preacher we felt in our hearts he was," the woman said.

Collins, 63, pastor of the Sovereign Grace Baptist Church in Battle Creek, is charged with one count of third-degree criminal sexual assault and could be sentenced to up to 15 years if convicted. Testimony continues today in Calhoun County Circuit Court before Judge Allen Garbrecht.

(Chicago) -- A 26-year-old Cook County man on Thursday filed a lawsuit against a Protestant minister and a Near West Side church, alleging the minister sexually abused him 10 years ago and the church covered up the allegations.